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Second official resigns over testing scandal

EL PASO (AP) — An administrator in a West Texas school district is the second person this week to resign over a scheme involving high-stakes standardized tests that landed the ex-superintendent in prison.

Myrna Gamboa resigned Thursday from the El Paso Independent School District. She served under former Superintendent Lorenzo Garcia, who was sentenced to 31/2 years in federal prison last month after pleading guilty to organizing a scheme that forced students to drop out to keep them from taking accountability exams.

Gamboa oversaw the district’s Title I schools, which receive federal funding that’s designed to improve tests scores for low-income students.

When allegations of Gamboa’s participation surfaced about six months ago, she was reassigned to administrative duties at the district’s central offices.

Jesus Chavez, the former principal of Bowie High School, which played a key role in the scheme, also resigned this week.

On Friday, two assistant principals and the counselor at Bowie High School were placed on paid administrative leave. Interim Superintendent Vernon Butler said in an email that he made the decisions after looking at internal audit reports, statements and interviews “that warrant further review for possible violations of the State Educators’ Code of Conduct.”

The resignations and leaves come less than a month after the top education official in Texas handed the district an ultimatum: Punish the officials involved in the scandal or face harsh sanctions.

Such sanctions could include a conservator — who would have more power than the monitor already put in place by the agency — or install a board of managers to take over some of the functions of the board of trustees. The state could even install a new school board for the El Paso district.

Texas Education Commissioner Michael Williams also called for the district to identify wrongdoers and conduct an “entire inquiry into the district, to know why this happened, who was involved and the consequences for students and teachers.”

Court documents indicate at least six other people helped Garcia organize the testing scheme, and the FBI has said the investigation is ongoing.

The school district did not immediately respond Friday to requests for information on whether more officials would resign.

Court documents show Garcia received at least $56,000 in bonuses resulting from the district’s overall rating improving from “academically acceptable” in 2005 to “recognized” in 2010 — the second-highest rating possible. To achieve that, school officials would place students in ninth grade or promote them to 11th grade, so the students would not be present when 10th-graders took the Texas Assessment of Knowledge and Skills. Some older, underperforming students were told to leave high school and get their GED elsewhere.

To improve graduation rates, some students would be given “turbo-mesters,” an accelerated course that allowed them to achieve a semester’s credits with a few hours of computer work.

According to documents obtained by the El Paso Times, Gamboa asked Bowie High School’s registrar to not count certain credits when determining a student’s grades.